Pampore encounter: Security forces pound EDI building with mortars, rockets; two militants neutralised

Srinagar: With the encounter between security forces and militants in Pampore continuing for the third day, reports said a guerilla was killed in the gunfight on Wednesday.

The gunbattle between the forces and militants holed-up inside a government building near Pampore town in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district has been raging on for more than 50 hours.

One of the militant was killed on Tuesday after Army personnel fired mortar shells at the multi-storey building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

Most part of the concrete building has been reduced to a skeleton as many of its walls have been blown up.

Elite Para commandos of the Army have also been called in to neutralise the militants but the security personnel are not rushing in to the building to avoid casualties, the officials said.

Two security personnel and a policeman were injured as the militants fired from inside the hostel building of the EDI on Monday after they entered the building.

The 70-room, seven-storey building is located at Pampore on the banks of the river Jhelum and 12 km from the Srinagar city centre.

The main building of the institute was attacked in February when militants captured it and launched a major attack on security forces. Six persons - a civilian, three soldiers and two paramilitary troopers -- were killed then before the three militants were shot dead.